Despite falling one match short of winning his first ATP Masters 1000 title, Casper Ruud is pleased with the progress he made at this year\u2019s Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters.<\/p>\n
The Norwegian earned the biggest win of his career by PIF ATP Ranking when he defeated World No. 1 Novak Djokovic in the semi-finals, before Stefanos Tsitsipas ended his title bid in Sunday\u2019s final.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think I have taken a few steps [forward] this week, but today it just didn’t work out well. Obviously saying that, I took a few steps, I think I played well on the clay and also yesterday beating Djokovic was a fantastic win for me and something that I hope I can kind of take confidence from,\u201d Ruud said. \u201cMaybe not today but maybe next time I play a big match or hopefully next time if I’m in a big final again I will think about maybe the fact that I have beaten Novak before can be something that can give me confidence.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rewind to 2022 and Ruud enjoyed the best season of his career. He climbed to No. 2 in the PIF ATP Rankings, won three tour-level titles and reached two major finals. The 25-year-old was unable to find his best level in 2023, triumphing on the ATP Tour once, while he held a 37-23 record on the season.<\/p>\n
Ruud has now reached three tour-level finals in 2024 and will rise to No. 6 in the PIF ATP Rankings on Monday. The Norwegian feels that if he can maintain his current level, a big title will soon come his way.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis year I’m feeling like I’m a little bit more back on track, I play a little bit more loose, not too much to lose anymore,\u201d Ruud said. \u201cI have achieved, sometimes when I think about it, more things than I thought was possible in my career, but by doing that you also want to chase and push for even more. Obviously, a Grand Slam or ATP [Masters] 1000 is the next big dream, big goal of mine.<\/p>\n
\u201cToday I was able to play a final of a 1000. [I] wasn’t able to win, so I will continue to chase and try to improve my game always. I have taken a few small steps I think in the right direction in the past six months tennis-wise, physically also, and I think we are doing something right and hopefully can continue on this positive trend that I’m in.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ruud was unable to find a way past Tsitsipas in Sunday\u2019s final, with the Greek triumphing 6-1, 6-4 to level the pair\u2019s Lexus ATP Head2Head series at 2-2.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe played aggressive, fantastic with the forehand, and playing also really well with the backhand today I think. I didn’t really find any holes in his game. I didn’t play good enough. Simple as that,\u201d said Ruud, who failed to convert any of his eight break point opportunities. \u201cI think there were a few maybe small chances in the second where I had again some break chances, breakpoints, but when you don’t convert, it’s tough to win the matches.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Norwegian lost to Tsitsipas in Sunday’s Monte-Carlo final.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-77685","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-non-classifiee-en"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n